Collins-Smith switched parties on August 10, 2011. At a news conference, she stated "I have not left the Democratic Party, but the party left me," complaining that the Democratic party had moved too far left for her to remain in the party.[1]

Biography

Collins-Smith's professional experience includes working as Owner/Operator of Days Inn and Suites of Pocahontas and President/Founder of Randolph County Tourism.

Committee assignments

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Collins-Smith served on the following committees:

2012

Excerpt: "I will fight to reduce government restrictions and put our citizens back to work."

The Constitution

Excerpt: "The Constitution of the United States is the most sublime outline for benign human government ever devised. It should be required learning and taught repeatedly at every level of our educational systems, both public and private."

The People Rule

Excerpt: "This is my pledge to you: I will not forget who elected me."

Political Integrity

Excerpt: "I will NEVER change what I stand for, or play with words, to gain a few votes."

Right to Life

Excerpt: "I will never vote to allow tax dollars to be spent, directly or indirectly, to fund abortions, and I will always vote to restrict access to this barbaric practice."

Elections

Elections for the office of Arkansas State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on May 20, 2014; a runoff election took place on June 10, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature-filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 3, 2014. James McLean was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Linda Collins-Smith was unopposed in the Republican primary. Collins-Smith defeated McLean in the general election.[4][5]

Arkansas State Senate, District 19 General Election, 2014

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

Linda Collins-Smith

58.3%

14,647

Democratic

James McLean

41.7%

10,481

Total Votes

25,128

2012

Following redistricting, Collins-Smith was placed in the same district as Republican incumbent Lori Benedict. She decided to run for District 19 of the Arkansas State Senate, instead of running for re-election. She ran unopposed in the May 22 Republican primary and was defeated by incumbent David Wyatt in the general election on November 6, 2012.[6][7][8]

Collins-Smith discusses at a press conference in August 2011 her switch from the Democratic Party to the GOP.

Scorecards

Legislative scorecards are used to evaluate elected public officials based on voting record. Some scorecards are created by political advocacy groups with a focus on specific issues, while others are developed by newspapers and are broad in scope. Scorecards are meant to be used as a tool for voters to have a quick picture of whether their views align with a particular legislator's record.

Because scorecards can be specific to particular issues or general to a state’s legislative term, for example, each report should be considered on its own merits. Each entity that publishes these reports uses different methodologies and definitions for the terms used.

Please see our writing guidelines if you would like to add results from an individual scorecard to this legislator's profile.

Arkansas’s Freedom Scorecard

The Advance Arkansas Institute, an Arkansas-based nonprofit research and educational organization, released "Arkansas's Freedom Scorecard" in 2012 and 2013. The scorecard seeks to show how Arkansas legislators voted on the principles the Institute seeks to promote. It measures each state legislator in six categories, which include economic freedom, education reform, good government, personal liberty, small government and tax/budget policy. Scores range from the highest score (100 percent) to the lowest (0 percent). A higher score indicates that the legislator voted more in favor of the values supported by the Institute.[12]
Collins-Smith received a score of 69 percent in the 2012 scorecard, ranking 46th out of 97 members of the Arkansas House of Representatives that were evaluated for the study.